For Donald Trump it was an interview of the more uncomfortable kind that he gave on Fox News on Sunday. Actually, the arch-conservative US broadcaster Trump is considered well-disposed, even if the relationship recently got scratches. The fact that the exclusively broadcast conversation was not easy for Trump - unlike usual - was due to interviewer Chris Wallace, who also interrupted the US President, asked critical questions and even commented on some of the answers with "That's not true, sir".
Of course, the interview was also about the current poll numbers, which Trump didn't look good at - which the US President then immediately discredited as "fake". But Wallace stayed on the subject, rubbing it in Trump's nose that the participants in the poll - collected by Fox News itself, mind you - would consider Democratic challenger Joe Biden to be mentally fitter (47 percent voted for Biden, 43 percent for Trump). He lured the US President – and a few other values – out of the reserve.
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Interviewer drives Trump into the parade
Then Biden should just take the same cognitive test (for which test it is concrete, you will find out below in the text) that he recently completed, Trump replied. In fact, the US President mentioned a test to Fox News host Sean Hannity on July 10 and said he passed it "with flying colors" ("I aced it"). Trump did not say exactly which test it was at the time. Only that the doctors would have been amazed at his result.
It's the moment Wallace drives Trump into the parade. He also did the test, the journalist replies and explains: "It wasn't particularly difficult." So there is a picture with the question what it is, according to Wallace, who immediately provides the answer: "An elephant". Trump falters, Wallace misjudged the test. Sure, it was easy at first, but he bet Wallace couldn't answer the last question either, "they're pretty difficult," the 74-year-old tries to save himself.
To which Wallace responds with another example that makes Trump's apparent desire to present himself as particularly intelligent seem whimsical. One of the hardest tasks is counting down from 100 in steps of seven, says Wallace and begins to calculate: "93". Trump, meanwhile, just keeps talking and emphasizes again that Biden will never achieve his result.
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"The Chris Wallace interview is Biden's campaign advertising"
Even if Biden is this would not actually make it, a statement about intelligence could not be made with the test anyway. Instead, the "Montreal Cognitive Assessment" (MoCa) is a recognized method for diagnosing signs of diseases such as Alzheimer's or dementia - but not for assessing a person's IQ. "MoCa" tests a person's orientation, memory, language, attention and control abilities.
For Trump, mentioning the test is likely to have backfired, as numerous comments on social networks suggest. One of them was delivered by Anthony Saramucci, Trump's former director of communications. "The Chris Wallace interview is Biden's campaign advertisement," he wrote on Twitter.
"Montreal Cognitive Assessment" – Test yourself
Would you like to do the "MoCa" yourself? After registration, the relevant test form can be downloaded free of charge in various languages from the website of the Canadian CEDRA Center for Diagnosis and Research in Alzheimer's Disease. It takes about ten minutes to complete, and scores of 26 or more points are considered normal. Specifically, the test is divided into eight sections:
Detailed instructions on the test procedure with information on awarding points can be found here.
Sources: mocatest.org / Twitter
